Samsung Throws a Temper Tantrum in Court Battle Against Apple and Leaks Dismissed Evidence to the Press

When a judge decides to dismiss evidence you feel would make your case in a patent lawsuit, you have one of two options: a.) You can sit back and deal with it like a timid little tktkt or b.) you can fire back and choose another public-facing channel to disseminate your information. Samsung chose the latter, opting to send its dismissed slides from its legal battle with Apple to the press, and drawing the ire of the judge overseeing the case.

At the start of yesterday's opening arguments, Samsung's lawyer John Quinn argued that a slide containing phones designed prior to the iPhone unveiling—including the F700 phone—be counted as evidence. The judge then threatened to sanction the lawyer and that seemed like the end of it. But as the AllThingsD tells it, Samsung sent them the slides with the following message:

The Judge's exclusion of evidence on independent creation meant that even though Apple was allowed to inaccurately argue to the jury that the F700 was an iPhone copy, Samsung was not allowed to tell the jury the full story and show the pre-iPhone design for that and other phones that were in development at Samsung in 2006, before the iPhone. The excluded evidence would have established beyond doubt that Samsung did not copy the iPhone design. Fundamental fairness requires that the jury decide the case based on all the evidence.

AllThingsD went on to post them. Judge Koh eventually found out and was not pleased, halting proceedings to find out Quinn's role in the slippery tactic. In the end, no action was taken, but when you're in a fierce battle with a formidable foe, it's probably best not brat out and piss off the voice of reason in the room. [AllThingsD via The Verge]